Thursday, October 27, 2011

HERE IS MY HUG FOR EACH OF YOU!!!!!Just wanted to send a hug your way. What is family for if not to send love and hugs when you need it most. Please take a moment to send Monica, Bill and family a big hug and love mixed in with your prayers. Love, Julie

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Every fall our church has a Turkey Dinner. I have taken the opportunity to combine support for the dinner and making my Fall Birthday Party easier on the cook. I buy several carryout dinners and serve them to my family along with a Birthday Cake. Here are a few pictures from this years party.

P.S. THANK YOU TO WHOMEVER LEFT THE MONEY ON MY DRESSER. I have been asking around and no one will admit to it, so Thanks it was a very unexpected surprise.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

How weird is it that I am doing 2 posts in a row? Does that mean no one else is using the blog anymore? I just wanted to post a little update about our journey. As most of you probably know, when we went to the Cancer Treatment Center for our last visit, they told us that the cancer had progressed and that they were basically out of treatment options. They said our best bet was to look into doing some clinical trials. We tried the one they thought would be best but it is full. As I'm sure you can imagine, we were disappointed (and had lots of other feelings) with this news. But since then we have looked into alternative treatments. I am learning new things every day. The first thing we found was infrared treatment. Mae mentioned that Keith had used an infrared pain for some pain he had. That reminded me that I had used infrared on my frozen shoulder after physical therapy didn't work and the infrared healed my shoulder. So I called Anna to ask where she got the pad. She told me about a friend of hers and gave me her number. I called her friend, Debbie, and she is amazing. She not only told me all about the infrared but she let me borrow her pad and showed me the infrared hothouse bed she has. She is extremely knowledgeable and super nice. She also works at a store that has great natural stuff and another very knowledgeable naturopath. We mostly wanted the infrared to help Bill with the pain from the shingles but it turns out it also helps with cancer. We also ordered the hothouse dome and are just starting to use that. Then I read about something called the Budwig protocol where you blend cottage cheese and flaxseed oil. The combination makes the flaxseed oil much more absorbable and easier for our bodies to use. This helps to kill cancer cells because it oxygenates them and cancer doesn't like oxygen. Bill eats it every day and even likes it. Go figure :) . The day after I read this, I met with a nutritionist/natural healing/ biofeedback/ essential oils / flower essence woman. She is awesome and she knew a lot about the Budwig protocol and the research behind it and loves it. It's so cool to find stuff on the internet and then have a living person that you know verify it. She also is helping me eat better. So I went to a store that has all sorts of healthy food like Anna makes. I had grain free granola with soaked nuts mixed with blueberry coconut kefir for breakfast and then I had Black Bean and Bison soup for supper. They are delicious. I'm excited to learn what we like and then learn to make it myself. I also got the name of a friend of a friend who went to Switzerland for cancer treatment when the doctors here said there was nothing they could do. He had a treatment where they raise your temperature to fight the cancer. I am going to be giving him a call tomorrow. There are many alternative treatments and I trust that if it is God's will, we will find one that works. I could go on forever about all I'm learning but my fingers would get tired. I will try to post again when I know what we're doing next. As always, the most important thing is to keep the prayers coming. Love you! Monica

Sunday, July 24, 2011

It is with great sadness that I write this post. Bill's mom passed away on Friday. She was going 90 mph until about 2 months ago. She had a little scab on her nose that wouldn't heal and then she got an infection. She went to the ER and her white counts were high because of the infection. Then her shoulder started to hurt. They moved her to a rehab facility and couldn't seem to figure out exactly what was wrong and what to do about it. She went from rehab to hospital to rehab for the last 2 months. Then early last week we got a call that they had found cancer cells in fluid drained from around her lungs. They didn't know what the source was and she was too weak for them to do any treatment and they gave her 2 - 4 weeks. That was a shock. We all thought they would figure it out and send her home. They said there was nothing they could do so they moved her to a hospice facility on Wednesday. With all of Bill's treaments and pneumonia, we had not been able to get up to see her so we were going to go on Friday. Bill's brother called Thursday morning and said she had taken a turn for the worse on Wednesday night. So we decided to go that day. We are so thankful we did. She wasn't able to talk and only opened her eyes a few times but I am sure she knew Bill was there and could hear him talking to her. It was so hard to say goodbye to someone who was so vibrant just a few months ago. The facility called Bill's sister on Friday morning to tell her that Mary had passed away. We are thankful she didn't have to suffer any longer but sad that she is gone. She will be missed. I don't know much but I do know that you never know when your time is up. Hug each other and remember to tell people that you love them. If you are reading this, I love you (most likely :) ) I have posted a link to the obitiuary. As most of you know, the grandson that preceded her in death is Bill's son Eric. We figure that the two of them are having a great time and putting in a special request for Bill's healing.Love you,Monica

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

I hope the title of this doesn't scare anybody, but this week really did change my life. As most of you probably know (word travels fast in this family haha), I spent the past week at Anna and Keith's house/farm. Wow, so what a blast! I had the time of my life!!!! :) I learned so much that it would take years to describe, and probably even longer to practice what I learned haha :) To get good at it...ya :)

And...that's it. KIDDING! Here is the play by play of each day...

Monday:

Got there :)

Helped Tara out with her chicken chores( she is so awesome you guys, like, really...it's a lot of work)

-Collect Chickens

-Get eggs

-Move them

-Move sheep( that was fun...some of the calf's tried to run away)

-Chilled with the family

Tuesday:

Got up at 6(wooohhooo I was tired)

Helped Tara take care of chickens

Weeded garden( so beautiful...want one just like it..:)

WATER FIGHTT!!!! Balloons everywhere, and even then, tara was responsible and reminded me to pick up the broken pieces...:) Colten got a hold of the hose...man does he love that thing...tara and I took off running, tried to get him, but I think I got confused...

-Went to library..so, there was a tornado watch, and a girl told us that...HOW NICE :)

-Ate the best pork-chops ever from Hunter's Pigs :) GO HUNTER!!!

*On a side note, I was awake more than asleep...that hadn't happened in over a month!

Wednesday

Woke up at 7

Learned about spelt

made the best pancakes ever...Tara and I got to making fun shapes like turtles...turtles are hard to flip though

Coconut Oil: Good for you :)

WE MADE BREAD!!!!!

Paraphrase of wise Hunter: Every good bread maker has their own score

Did you know gluten is the stuff that makes the dough stretchy? I learned that today!

Made lasagna :D yummmm

Score Bread-prevents break from breaking

Did the chicken chores with Tara

Went to the style show! Tara got a blue ribbon! Her first time! :D

Hunter..he is so sweet. He drew me an elephant :) Best picture I ever saw, and of my favorite animal :) Makes me wanna cry just thinking about it :)

Thursday

Made caleco beans!! :)

Got up at 7

Learned how to knit!!! Kept adding stitches, but Tara and Anna taught me know to fix them :)

Tara was very kind in telling me the gores of butchering chickens, only she explained it with enthusiasm instead of horror...I wonder about her sometimes :) ( I love you Tara)

Anna taught me not to use plastic because of the lining, so can and glass as much as possible :)

Had califlower broccoli salad :) YUMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!

Man, you know, it gets hot behind the stove. I was a cookin bacon, and by like an hour, I couldn't see a thing! So much respect for those who cook behind a stove a lot...wow...

Friday

GOT UP AT 8AM! ( dude, seriously, I thought I was sleeping in...)

WENT TO THE FARM( well, two, one for groceries, one for milk)

-BTW: Raw milk is amazing!!! LOVE IT!!!

-Got coupons from the milk farm :) People are so nice!

-I am in love with Back to the Best :) They have so much!

-Anna bought me Nourishing Traditions, it's awesome! :)

-Got like 50 handouts from Sugar to PMS..:) VERY COOL PLACE

-We let out the cows!!!! Coool :) It looked revolutionary and beautiful :)

-We made meatloaf :)

-Made granola...could have eaten the whole pan haha

Learned how to make butter!

Learned how to sharpen knives :) It was REALLY fun, scary as that sounds :)

Saturday

BUTCHER DAY!!!

started at 9am, ended around 6 pm...got a video of the whole thing...I think I can still eat chicken? :)

Sunday

I had to leave :(

Had blueberry french toast for lunch!

*You guys, I am in love with how Anna and Keith live...each member of the family does something to contribute, and everyone is always on watch of each other, taking care of each other. Everybody has to make sacrifices, whethor it be their own dreams or anothers, and at least while I was there, it seemed like every day everyone put themselves aside in order to take care of the family....all the time. And not once did I hear Anna or Keith yell...it was so cool :) And Hunter, Tara, Colten, and Abigail are so amazing! They know so much, and have taught me so many things :) I was in shock at how much they knew :)

I mean, sure, I could have done away with Tara not asking me if I was having fun, every twenty minutes, or Colten spraying the hose at us while we are doing chores haha...but it just wouldn't be the same.

The best part was that it was all based on living in the image of God, and God was always apparent in and out of the house :)

Really guys, my eyes were opened to how things should work, how they do work, and how to live in the real world...

now, I see food, and I see yellow cheese and I'm like "hey, cheese isn't supposed to be yellow! ( did you know that? They die the cheeses)..eww!

I see meat, and I ask myself, how was the cattle raised? Was the pasture changed often? Did they get enough sun? Did the grass have a lot clovers, which increases its likelihood of getting bloat?

-Why didn't people think about what the Homestead Act would do to the cattle/farmers?

-Why can't markets sell raw milk? It's good for you, and people can get sick on anything, so why ban raw milk specifically?

In other words guys, my world is flipped, and I wanna keep it that way :)

My mom and I are trying to cook some of the things I learned how to/did make at Anna's. It's a little crazy, because it's hard to find things like spelt or rapadura not at a farm, but I think we will just make time to go Back to the Best :)

Words cannot explain how thankful I am for Anna,Keith, Hunter, Colten( dude has so much energy!), Tara, and Abigail :) You guys, I admire you so much, and thank you for all that you do :) I love you all :)

-P.S. I apologize for bringing so much technology, I realize we really don't need it...yes, I know, I am using right now, but I mean the Itouch...what you guys are doing will last much longer than the Itouch will..)

-Side Note: I taught them the game Crazy 8's...we played it every day like 4 times :) It's one way to learn :)

If you have started your own blog and would like to add it to our list, just let us know! Send us an e-mail with your blog's web address and we'll happily share it with the family! dawndoucette@charter.net or doucette56@charter.net